Monday, October 13, 2008

Sunday October 12

There was a bit of a slowdown in play on Sunday as only half a dozen teams faced off in 3 games around the NHL. The turndown is worrisome to many fans expecting to see lots of high-flying action early and regularly. Republican presidential nominee John McCain said on Sunday morning that the "fundamentals" of the NHL schedule were "sound" only to be disproven hours later by the dearth of actual games being played. Former Islanders made noise in 2 of those tilts. Let us take a peek:

The new Emperor of the Sun, Olli Jokinen, helped his team to a 4-2 victory as the Phoenix Coyotes beat the flaccid Ducks 4-2 in Anaheim. O-Jok had a powerplay assist on the insurance goal again pairing up with rookie Kyle Turris. Jokinen has 3 points (1 goal, 2 assists) on only 2 games. All 3 of his points have come with the man advantage, a positive sign that the special teams specialist has returned, especially for Phoenix. Now isn't that special?

People laughed when FIW said that young defenseman Denis Grebeshkov was a star in the making. They laughed! But Grebeshkov continues to develop nicely for Edmonton, even if he has not quite made it to star status, yet. Grebeshkov got his season started in fine style notching 2 assists in the Oilers' opening game, a 3-2 win over the visiting Colorado Avalanche. Greb (new nickname) recorded a secondary powerplay assist on the first goal, only 6:59 in to play, and then added an even strength assist 5:57 in to the third period. This is Greb's first multi-point night since he had a goal and an assist on February 19. Even more suprisingly, this was the first multi-assist night of Grebeshkov's NHL career which has spanned 105 games.